Disabling cache portions during low voltage operations

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus relating to disabling one or more cache portions during low voltage operations are described. In some embodiments, one or more extra bits may be used for a portion of a cache that indicate whether the portion of the cache is capable at operating at or below Vccmin levels. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 13/342,016, filed Dec.31, 2011, now pending, which is a continuation of application Ser. No.12/242,321, filed Sep. 30, 2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,103,830.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention generally relates to the field of electronics. Moreparticularly, an embodiment of the invention relates to disabling one ormore cache portions during low voltage operations.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Today's mass produced silicon may suffer from a number of manufacturinginduced parameter variations. These variations may cause issues in themanufacture of various types of memory cells. The variations areresponsible for a phenomenon known as Vccmin which determines theminimum voltage at which these memory cells may operate reliably. Sincethe typical microprocessor contains a number of structures implementedusing various types of memory cells, these structures typicallydetermine the minimum voltage at which the microprocessor as a whole mayreliably operate. Since voltage scaling may be effectively used toreduce the power consumed by a microprocessor, Vccmin may become anobstacle to utilizing a particular design at lower voltages.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is illustrated by way of example and notlimitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings.

The detailed description is provided with reference to the accompanyingfigures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference numberidentifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. Theuse of the same reference numbers in different figures indicates similaror identical items.

FIGS. 1, 6, and 7 illustrate block diagrams of embodiments of computingsystems, which may be utilized to implement various embodimentsdiscussed herein.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate embodiments of caches in accordance with someembodiments.

FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate voltage sorting state diagrams for disablebit testing, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4A illustrates a schematic of a read operation in a cache,according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4B illustrates a block diagram of address remapping logic,according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow diagram of a method in accordance with anembodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of various embodiments.However, various embodiments of the invention may be practiced withoutthe specific details. In other instances, well-known methods,procedures, components, and circuits have not been described in detailso as not to obscure the particular embodiments of the invention.Further, various aspects of embodiments of the invention may beperformed using various means, such as integrated semiconductor circuits(“hardware”), computer-readable instructions organized into one or moreprograms (“software”), or some combination of hardware and software. Forthe purposes of this disclosure reference to “logic” shall mean eitherhardware, software, or some combination thereof. Also, even though someembodiments discussed herein may refer to a set or clear value aslogical 0 and 1, respectively, these terms are interchangeable, e.g.,depending on the implementation.

Some embodiments provide for disabling one or more cache portions (suchas a cache line or a subblock of a cache line) during low voltageoperations. Overcoming the Vccmin obstacle (discussed above) may allowmemory devices to operate at or below Vccmin levels, which reduce powerconsumption, e.g., resulting in increase of battery life in mobilecomputing devices. Also, in some embodiments, performance loss may bemitigated by retaining operation of memory cells in a cache at lowergranularity than cache line during low voltage operations. Furthermore,one embodiment of the invention maintains memory cell voltage at avoltage level, such that the cell will reliably retain storedinformation for a period of time, e.g., under conditions warranted underIntel® documented reliability standards. Generally, memory cells areconsidered to operate reliably at a given voltage level when they pass abattery of tests at such voltage level. Such tests may evaluate read,write, and retention capabilities of memory cells. For example, onlythose cells observing no errors during tests are considered reliable.

In an embodiment, one or more cache lines may be disabled duringoperation at an Ultra Low Operating Voltage (ULOV), e.g., based on adetermination (such as indicated by a bit value corresponding to the oneor more cache lines) that the one or more cache lines are not functional(or not reliably operable) at ULOV. ULOV may be a lower level, e.g., byabout 150 mV, than some other current low voltage levels of about 750 mV(which may be referred to herein as “minimum voltage level”). In oneembodiment, a processor may transition to an Ultra Low Power Mode (ULPM)(e.g., operating at ULOV) in response to a determination that one ormore cache lines incapable of operating at ULOV have been flushed (e.g.,invalidated and/or written back to other memory devices such as a mainmemory if necessary).

In one embodiment, performance loss due to decreased cache size (as aresult of disabling cache lines) may be mitigated, e.g., inhigh-performance out-of-order processors. For example, moderate faultybit rates may be tolerated with relatively low cost in performance, lowcomplexity, and high performance predictability. Such solutions areconsidered effective during or below Vccmin operational levels whilekeeping performance unaffected during high Vcc operation. In anembodiment, for Vccmin or below operations, faulty subblocks at finegranularity (e.g., 64 bits) may be disabled in such a way that cachelines with one or few faulty subblocks may still be used, and thusreduce the performance overhead incurred by cache line disablingschemes. Moreover, high performance predictability, which is key forbinning chips, is achieved by rotating address mapping into cache linesin such a way that programs whose performance depends on few cache setswill potentially receive a performance hit in a similar mannerindependently of the location of the faulty subblocks in cache. Suchtechniques are believed to have little or no performance loss impactwhen operating at high Vcc.

Techniques described herein may allow for improved performance invarious computing devices, such as those discussed for example withreference to FIGS. 1-7. More particularly, FIG. 1 illustrates a blockdiagram of a computing system 100, according to an embodiment of theinvention. The system 100 may include one or more processors 102-1through 102-N (generally referred to herein as “processors 102” or“processor 102”). The processors 102 may communicate via aninterconnection network or bus 104. Each processor may include variouscomponents, some of which are only discussed with reference to processor102-1 for clarity. Accordingly, each of the remaining processors 102-2through 102-N may include the same or similar components discussed withreference to the processor 102-1.

In an embodiment, the processor 102-1 may include one or more processorcores 106-1 through 106-M (referred to herein as “cores 106” or moregenerally as “core 106”), a shared cache 108, and/or a router 110. Theprocessor cores 106 may be implemented on a single integrated circuit(IC) chip. Moreover, the chip may include one or more shared and/orprivate caches (such as cache 108), buses or interconnections (such as abus or interconnection network 112), memory controllers (such as thosediscussed with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7), or other components.

In one embodiment, the router 110 may be used to communicate betweenvarious components of the processor 102-1 and/or system 100. Moreover,the processor 102-1 may include more than one router 110. Furthermore,the multitude of routers 110 may be in communication to enable datarouting between various components inside or outside of the processor102-1.

The shared cache 108 may store data (e.g., including instructions) thatare utilized by one or more components of the processor 102-1, such asthe cores 106. For example, the shared cache 108 may locally cache datastored in a memory 114 for faster access by components of the processor102. In an embodiment, the cache 108 may include a mid-level cache (suchas a level 2 (L2), a level 3 (L3), a level 4 (L4), or other levels ofcache), a last level cache (LLC), and/or combinations thereof. Moreover,various components of the processor 102-1 may communicate with theshared cache 108 directly, through a bus (e.g., the bus 112), and/or amemory controller or hub. As shown in FIG. 1, in some embodiments, oneor more of the cores 106 may include a level 1 (L1) cache (116-1)(generally referred to herein as “L1 cache 116”) and/or an L2 cache (notshown).

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate embodiments of caches in accordance with someembodiments. In some embodiments, the caches shown in FIGS. 2A and 2Bmay be used as caches discussed with reference to other figures hereinsuch as FIG. 1, 6, or 7. More particularly, in some embodiments,configurable caches may be utilized in computing device. Suchconfigurable caches may tradeoff capacity for low voltage operation.

In some embodiments, one or more of the following three parts may beused. First, an additional low power state is introduced (referred toherein as ULPM), which uses a voltage level referred to as ULOV. In oneembodiment, ULOV is at about 150 mv less than a current value of Vccmin(which we will assume is about 750 mv). Second, a voltage sortingalgorithm may be used to determine which cache lines are functional atULOV. Third, each group of cache lines is associated with a disable bitor d-bit. The voltage sorting algorithm will set the d-bit for eachgroup of cache lines that is not fully functional at the ultra lowoperating voltage.

Furthermore, ULPM may be considered an extension to the existing PowerStates. For example, when a microprocessor transitions to ultra lowpower mode all cache lines for which the d-bit has been set will beflushed from the caches that will be affected by the transition to thelower voltage. If we assume that the LLC, the DCU (L1 data cache), andthe IFU (L1 instruction cache), will be operating at ULOV after thetransition, then all cache lines in the DCU and ICU for which the d-bithas been set will be flushed (invalidated and written back to memory114, for example, if necessary). Next the LLC will be prepared for ULOVoperation by flushing each cache line for which the d-bit has been set.Once all cache lines for which the d-bit has been set have been purgedfrom the system, a corresponding processor may transition to ULPM.

Generally, a cache is organized into sets, each of which consists of anumber of ways. Each way corresponds to a single cache line which istypically 32-64 Bytes. A cache lookup occurs when a processor presentsan address to the cache. The address may be decomposed into threecomponents: a line offset, a set select, and tag. Consider a cachedesign with 1024 sets, each consisting of 8 ways, each way consisting ofa single 64 byte line. The entire cache will consist of 512 KB ofstorage (1024*8*64). If the cache is designed to handle 50 bitaddresses, then the cache may be indexed as follows. Bits 0-5 will bethe line offset specifying the byte in the 64 byte line. In someembodiments, bits 0-5 may specify the starting byte, in part, becausemultiple bytes may be accessed depending on the load/store instruction.For instance, a single byte (or two bytes, etc.) may be read startingfrom the indicated byte, etc. Bits 6-15 will be the set selectspecifying the set that will store the line. The remainder of the bits(16-49) will be stored as a tag. All cache lines for which the setselect bits are equal will compete for one of the 8 ways in thespecified set.

In an embodiment, a group of cache lines may be associated with a d-bitwhich specifies whether or not the group of cache lines is functional atlower voltages. As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, the d-bit has no effectunless the processor is either in ULPM or transitioning to ULPM asdetermined by a replacement logic 202. Accordingly, the logic 202 maydetect access to one or more cache portions (such as cache lines) anddetermine whether the cache portions are operable at or below Vccmin. Inthe transition to ULPM, all cache lines for which the d-bit is set areflushed. This is to prevent a loss of data after the transition to ULPM.During ULPM, the cache functions as it normally would with the exceptionthat only cache lines associated with a d-bit set to 0 are consideredvalid. When a set is searched for an address in ULPM the d-bit preventserroneous matches with disabled lines. Even though embodiments discussedherein may refer to a set or clear value as 0 and 1, respectively, theseterms are interchangeable depending on the implementation. For example,a clear d-bit may indicate disabling of one or more corresponding cachelines.

Moreover, when a cache miss occurs the replacement logic 202 selects acache line to evict from the cache. The cache line is then overwrittenwith new data fetched from memory. In ULPM, the d-bit is considered bythe replacement logic 202 (FIG. 2B) to prevent allocations to disabledcache lines. This may be achieved by forcing the replacement process totreat the disabled lines as MRU (Most Recently Used). This age-basedvector replacement process, for example, may be applicable for disablingindividual cache lines. In this process, a bit vector (1-bit per cacheline) is scanned and first line marked with a 0 is identified as LRU(Least Recently Used) and replaced. By forcing the bit associated with acache line to 1 the line is always treated as MRU and not chosen forreplacement.

As for defects in d-bits, in ULPM where the d-bits affect the functionof the cache, an d-bit defect may manifest itself in one of two ways. Ad-bit value of 0 indicates a cache line that is functional at lowvoltages. Conversely, a d-bit value of 1 indicates a cache line that isnon functional at low voltages. The first scenario is where a d-bit isstuck at 1 disabling the cache line. In this scenario a cache line withall bits functional but a broken d-bit will be disabled. This ensurescorrect function in this scenario. The second scenario is where thed-bit is stuck at 0. This is a problem if the line is defective sincethe broken d-bit will incorrectly indicate a functional cache line. Toensure correct function an embodiment ensures that none of the d-bitsmay be erroneously stuck at 0. One way to address this is to change thecell design to make a d-bit broken in this way unlikely. A secondapproach would be to add one or more redundant d-bits. For example onemight use three d-bits. All three bits would then be written the sameway (all 1s, or all 0s). If the d-bits are read and any one of the bitsis set to 1, it may be treated as a disabled cache line. Only d-bitsthat can be correctly read as containing 3 0s are treated as cache linesusable at ultra low operating voltages. In this scenario a d-bit failureis extremely unlikely since all three bits must fail for a d-bit failureto occur.

FIGS. 3A and 3B illustrate voltage sorting state diagrams for d-bittesting during manufacture and POST (Power On Self Test), respectively,in accordance with some embodiments. More particularly, voltage sortingmay occur in one of two ways. First, voltage sorting may be performedwhen the processor is manufactured as shown in FIG. 3A. Since the d-bitsare to remain valid even after a power cycle has occurred, the d-bitsare stored in fuses or some other type of non-volatile memory such asBIOS (Basic Input Output System) memory or on-package flash. Analternative would be to store the d-bits in an additional bit that isincluded in the tag or state bits (e.g., Modified Exclusive SharedInvalid (MESI) bits) associated with a cache line. Storing the d-bits inthis way requires that each power down is followed by a new voltagesorting to regenerate the d-bits. This approach also requires that aprocessor has the ability to perform a memory test on its memorystructures in the field at low voltages. One way to achieve this wouldbe to make use of POST (to set the appropriate d-bits) as shown in FIG.3B. More specifically, FIG. 3B shows how a processor with four differentstates, HFM (High Frequency Mode), LFM (Low Frequency Mode), ULPM, off,might transition between the states when the d-bits are set by POST andare to be regenerated after each power cycle. Moreover, POST followsevery transition from off state to one of the three on states.

As discussed with reference to FIGS. 2A through 3B, a cache is to beconfigurable with different capacities for different levels ofperformance and different Vccmin for different power budgets. Also, someembodiments may allow for designing of parts that address markets withdifferent power requirements. This will save costs by allowing fordesign of fewer products that address a broader range of markets.

In an embodiment, fault-free bits of faulty cache entries are usedinstead of discarding the full entries. Moreover, in order to enable lowVccmin operation in caches, a moderate faulty bit rate incurred by thelower Vcc is tolerated. This approach may be extended to provide highperformance predictability, which ensures that two processors providethe same performance for any given program. The performance variabilityis based on the different chip samples potentially having differentfaulty locations, and thus having different impact on performance.

FIG. 4A illustrates a schematic of a read operation in a cache,according to an embodiment. The cache shown is two-way set-associative,and each cache line has four subblocks. In an embodiment, each cacheline is extended with few bits that may be stored together with thecache tag (e.g., bits 1011 stored with tag 1 or bits 0111 stored withtag 2 in FIG. 4A). Each cache line is split logically into subblocks.The size of such subblocks may match the smallest part of a line withits own parity or ECC (Error Correction Code) protection. For instance,a DL0 cache whose contents are ECC protected at 64-bit granularity andwhose cache lines have 8 of those subblocks will use 8 extra bits toindicate whether each subblock may be used or not. All extra bits areset except those whose corresponding subblock has more faulty bits thanallowed. For instance, a SECDED (Single Error Correction, Double ErrorDetection) protected block with two faulty bits should have itscorresponding bit reset.

The cache of FIG. 4A operates as follows. Whenever an access isperformed, the tags 402 and 403 are read and data from all lines in theset 404 are retrieved if required. Note that address offset indicateswhich subblocks are required. The offset 406 is used to pick the bitcorresponding to the subblock required for each cache line in the set.Cache tags are compared (e.g., by comparators 408 and 410) against theaddress requested. In some situations, there may be a tag hit 411(output through OR gate 412 based on outputs of AND gates 414 and 422),but the extra bit corresponding to such subblock may indicate that it isfaulty. In such case we have a false hit 418 (e.g., output through theOR gate 420 based on outputs of AND gates 416 and 424). This situationmay be addressed as follows:

(i) A miss is reported because the datum is not present.

(ii) The cache line is evicted and dirty data is updated in upper cachelevels for write-back caches. Note that only valid subblocks may need tobe updated. Write-through caches get the cache line evicted for loadsand update upper cache levels for stores.

(iii) The cache line is marked as the most recently used (MRU) line inthe set in such a way that whenever the data is requested from the uppercache level, it is allocated into a different cache line, which is verylikely to have a fault-free block to hold the data required. In theunlikely case that the cache line chosen has a faulty subblock in thesame location, the process is repeated so that if there is at least onecache line in the set with a fault-free subblock in the requiredposition, it will be found. Only unacceptably high faulty bit rates(e.g., based on a threshold value for a given design) would cause allsubblocks in the same location within the cache lines in a given set tofail.

Accordingly, accesses to cache may hit in the tag but treated as missesbecause extra bit(s) identifying that part of the cache line aredefective in an embodiment. Note that there may be a way to disable anycache line such as discussed above by using a d-bit. Such mechanisms maybe used to prevent using cache lines with faulty tags, faulty validbits, or faulty dirty bits. In an embodiment, if the extra bits arefaulty, the cache line is also marked as faulty. Further, the extramechanisms shown in FIG. 4A (such as the extra bits, and comparisonlogics and associated AND and OR gates may be bypassed during high Vccoperation, e.g., by setting all the extra bits to “1” or simply ignoringthose bits.

FIG. 4B illustrates a block diagram of address remapping logic,according to an embodiment. To address performance variability, dynamicaddress remapping may be used (e.g., in a round-robin fashion), so thata given address is mapped to different cache sets in different timeintervals. This way, given a program and a faulty bit rate, performancehardly changes from one processor to another, no matter where the faultybits are located.

As shown in FIG. 4B, an N bit counter 452 may be used, where N may beany value between 1 and the number of bits required to identify cachesets. For instance, in the 32 KB 8-way cache with 64 bytes/line thereare 64 sets, which may be indexed with 6 bits. Thus, a counter with 6bits or fewer is enough. In the particular implementation shown, a 4-bitcounter 452 is used. Such counter is updated periodically or from timeto time (e.g., every 10 million cycles). The N bits of the counter arebitwise XORed by XOR gate 454 with N bits of the bits indexing the set.Accordingly, a given address may map to different cache sets atdifferent times in an embodiment.

Furthermore, address remapping may be performed either at cache accesstime or at address calculation time. Latency impact should be low sincea single XOR gate level is added and half of the inputs are set inadvance (those coming from the counter). In an embodiment, cachecontents are flushed whenever the counter is updated to preventinconsistencies. However, the counter may be updated seldom, and thus,the performance impact is negligible. Moreover, the mechanism of FIG. 4Bmay be deactivated for high Vcc operation by simply preventing thecounter from updating.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow diagram of a method 500 to disable a portionof a cache during low voltage operations, according to an embodiment ofthe invention. In some embodiments, various components discussed withreference to FIGS. 1-4 and 6-7 may be utilized to perform one or more ofthe operations discussed with reference to FIG. 5.

Referring to FIGS. 1-5, at an operation 502, it is determined whether anaccess request to a portion of a cache is received or detected (e.g., bythe logic 202 or logic shown in FIG. 4A). If access is received, thenoperation 504 determines whether the cache portion is operable at Vccminor below such as discussed herein, e.g., with reference to FIGS. 1-4B.If the determination of operation 504 is negative, a miss is returned(such as discussed with reference to FIGS. 1-4B). If determination ofoperation 504 is positive, then operation 508 returns a hit (such asdiscussed with reference to FIGS. 1-4B).

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of a computing system 600 inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention. The computing system 600may include one or more central processing unit(s) (CPUs) 602 orprocessors that communicate via an interconnection network (or bus) 604.The processors 602 may include a general purpose processor, a networkprocessor (that processes data communicated over a computer network603), or other types of a processor (including a reduced instruction setcomputer (RISC) processor or a complex instruction set computer (CISC)).Moreover, the processors 602 may have a single or multiple core design.The processors 602 with a multiple core design may integrate differenttypes of processor cores on the same integrated circuit (IC) die. Also,the processors 602 with a multiple core design may be implemented assymmetrical or asymmetrical multiprocessors. In an embodiment, one ormore of the processors 602 may be the same or similar to the processors102 of FIG. 1. For example, one or more of the processors 602 mayinclude one or more of the caches discussed with reference to FIGS. 1-5.Also, the operations discussed with reference to FIGS. 1-5 may beperformed by one or more components of the system 600.

A chipset 606 may also communicate with the interconnection network 604.The chipset 606 may include a memory control hub (MCH) 608. The MCH 608may include a memory controller 610 that communicates with a memory 612(which may be the same or similar to the memory 114 of FIG. 1). Thememory 612 may store data, including sequences of instructions, that maybe executed by the CPU 602, or any other device included in thecomputing system 600. In one embodiment of the invention, the memory 612may include one or more volatile storage (or memory) devices such asrandom access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM(SDRAM), static RAM (SRAM), or other types of storage devices.Nonvolatile memory may also be utilized such as a hard disk. Additionaldevices may communicate via the interconnection network 604, such asmultiple CPUs and/or multiple system memories.

The MCH 608 may also include a graphics interface 614 that communicateswith a display device 616. In one embodiment of the invention, thegraphics interface 614 may communicate with the display device 616 viaan accelerated graphics port (AGP). In an embodiment of the invention,the display 616 (such as a flat panel display) may communicate with thegraphics interface 614 through, for example, a signal converter thattranslates a digital representation of an image stored in a storagedevice such as video memory or system memory into display signals thatare interpreted and displayed by the display 616. The display signalsproduced by the display device may pass through various control devicesbefore being interpreted by and subsequently displayed on the display616.

A hub interface 618 may allow the MCH 608 and an input/output controlhub (ICH) 620 to communicate. The ICH 620 may provide an interface toI/O device(s) that communicate with the computing system 600. The ICH620 may communicate with a bus 622 through a peripheral bridge (orcontroller) 624, such as a peripheral component interconnect (PCI)bridge, a universal serial bus (USB) controller, or other types ofperipheral bridges or controllers. The bridge 624 may provide a datapath between the CPU 602 and peripheral devices. Other types oftopologies may be utilized. Also, multiple buses may communicate withthe ICH 620, e.g., through multiple bridges or controllers. Moreover,other peripherals in communication with the ICH 620 may include, invarious embodiments of the invention, integrated drive electronics (IDE)or small computer system interface (SCSI) hard drive(s), USB port(s), akeyboard, a mouse, parallel port(s), serial port(s), floppy diskdrive(s), digital output support (e.g., digital video interface (DVI)),or other devices.

The bus 622 may communicate with an audio device 626, one or more diskdrive(s) 628, and a network interface device 630 (which is incommunication with the computer network 603). Other devices maycommunicate via the bus 622. Also, various components (such as thenetwork interface device 630) may communicate with the MCH 608 in someembodiments of the invention. In addition, the processor 602 and othercomponents shown in FIG. 6 (including but not limited to the MCH 608,one or more components of the MCH 608, etc.) may be combined to form asingle chip. Furthermore, a graphics accelerator may be included withinthe MCH 608 in other embodiments of the invention.

Furthermore, the computing system 600 may include volatile and/ornonvolatile memory (or storage). For example, nonvolatile memory mayinclude one or more of the following: read-only memory (ROM),programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), electrically EPROM(EEPROM), a disk drive (e.g., 628), a floppy disk, a compact disk ROM(CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD), flash memory, amagneto-optical disk, or other types of nonvolatile machine-readablemedia that are capable of storing electronic data (e.g., includinginstructions).

FIG. 7 illustrates a computing system 700 that is arranged in apoint-to-point (PtP) configuration, according to an embodiment of theinvention. In particular, FIG. 7 shows a system where processors,memory, and input/output devices are interconnected by a number ofpoint-to-point interfaces. The operations discussed with reference toFIGS. 1-6 may be performed by one or more components of the system 700.

As illustrated in FIG. 7, the system 700 may include several processors,of which only two, processors 702 and 704 are shown for clarity. Theprocessors 702 and 704 may each include a local memory controller hub(MCH) 706 and 708 to enable communication with memories 710 and 712. Thememories 710 and/or 712 may store various data such as those discussedwith reference to the memory 612 of FIG. 6.

In an embodiment, the processors 702 and 704 may be one of theprocessors 602 discussed with reference to FIG. 6, e.g., including oneor more of the caches discussed with reference to FIGS. 1-6. Theprocessors 702 and 704 may exchange data via a point-to-point (PtP)interface 714 using PtP interface circuits 716 and 718, respectively.Also, the processors 702 and 704 may each exchange data with a chipset720 via individual PtP interfaces 722 and 724 using point-to-pointinterface circuits 726, 728, 730, and 732. The chipset 720 may furtherexchange data with a graphics circuit 734 via a graphics interface 736,e.g., using a PtP interface circuit 737.

At least one embodiment of the invention may be provided within theprocessors 702 and 704. For example, one or more of the cores 106 ofFIG. 1 may be located within the processors 702 and 704. Otherembodiments of the invention, however, may exist in other circuits,logic units, or devices within the system 700 of FIG. 7. Furthermore,other embodiments of the invention may be distributed throughout severalcircuits, logic units, or devices illustrated in FIG. 7.

The chipset 720 may communicate with a bus 740 using a PtP interfacecircuit 741. The bus 740 may communicate with one or more devices, suchas a bus bridge 742 and I/O devices 743. Via a bus 744, the bus bridge742 may communicate with other devices such as a keyboard/mouse 745,communication devices 746 (such as modems, network interface devices, orother communication devices that may communicate with the computernetwork 603), audio I/O device 747, and/or a data storage device 748.The data storage device 748 may store code 749 that may be executed bythe processors 702 and/or 704.

In various embodiments of the invention, the operations discussedherein, e.g., with reference to FIGS. 1-7, may be implemented ashardware (e.g., logic circuitry), software, firmware, or combinationsthereof, which may be provided as a computer program product, e.g.,including a machine-readable or computer-readable medium having storedthereon instructions (or software procedures) used to program a computerto perform a process discussed herein. The machine-readable medium mayinclude a storage device such as those discussed herein.

Additionally, such tangible computer-readable media may be downloaded asa computer program product, wherein the program may be transferred froma remote computer (e.g., a server) to a requesting computer (e.g., aclient) by way of data signals in a propagation medium via acommunication link (e.g., a bus, a modem, or a network connection).

Reference in the specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” or“some embodiments” means that a particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic described in connection with the embodiment(s) may beincluded in at least an implementation. The appearances of the phrase“in one embodiment” in various places in the specification may or maynot be all referring to the same embodiment.

Also, in the description and claims, the terms “coupled” and“connected,” along with their derivatives, may be used. In someembodiments of the invention, “connected” may be used to indicate thattwo or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact witheach other. “Coupled” may mean that two or more elements are in directphysical or electrical contact. However, “coupled” may also mean thattwo or more elements may not be in direct contact with each other, butmay still cooperate or interact with each other.

Thus, although embodiments of the invention have been described inlanguage specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, itis to be understood that claimed subject matter may not be limited tothe specific features or acts described. Rather, the specific featuresand acts are disclosed as sample forms of implementing the claimedsubject matter.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving a request toaccess a cache line set of a plurality of cache line sets in an ultralow power mode (ULPM) wherein the ULPM uses an ultra low voltage levelto access cache lines at or lower than a minimum voltage level at whichall memory cells of the cache may operate reliably; determining if acache line of a first way of the cache line set is operable in the ULPMbased at least in part on one or more disable bits corresponding to thecache line of the first way; returning a miss at least in partresponsive to the cache line of the first way of the cache line setbeing determined inoperable in the ULPM; and returning a hit at least inpart responsive to the cache line of the first way of the cache line setbeing determined operable in the ULPM.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving a request to enter ULPM; and flushing the cacheline of the first way of the cache line set responsive to the first wayof the cache line set being determined inoperable in the ULPM.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a request to enterULPM; and not flushing the cache line of the first way of the cache lineset responsive to the first way of the cache line set being determinedoperable in the ULPM.
 4. The method of claim 3, further comprisingtesting the portion of cache to determine whether the portion of thecache is operable at the ultra low voltage level, wherein the testing isto be performed during manufacturing or Power On Self Test (POST). 5.The method of claim 4 further comprising updating the one or more bitsin response to the testing.